Boehner op-ed: Obama trampling Constitution

U.S. House Speaker John Boehner is a Republican from West Chester Township.

Over the past five years, President Barack Obama has circumvented the American people and their elected representatives through executive action, changing and creating his own laws, and excusing himself from enforcing statutes he is sworn to uphold.

We're not going to sit idly by while this president chips away at the very foundation of our democracy, which is why the House is now initiating legal action to compel the president to follow his oath of office and faithfully execute the laws of our country.

While the president would like you to believe that this is some kind of Republican stunt, let me be clear – this isn't about Republicans versus Democrats; it's about protecting the Constitution.

And when I heard the president respond to our plan with a lighthearted, "So sue me," – I was extremely disappointed.

This is no joke, Mr. President.

The American people are frustrated.

As Hope from Liberty Township puts it, "The tax-paying, hard-working citizens of the USA deserve better than what we have in this administration."

Sharon from Tipp City recently wrote to me saying, "Something must be done to stop his abuse of power, trampling of constitutional rights, and his refusal to follow the law."

Just take a look at what the Constitution says about all of this. It's simple, really: the president must faithfully execute the laws, and only the legislative branch has the power to legislate.

But the current president has demonstrated that he believes he has the power to make his own laws – at times even boasting about it. He has said that if Congress won't make the laws he wants, he'll go ahead and make them himself.

In the case of the health care law's employer mandate – which is arguably the best known example of his executive overreach – the president changed the law without a vote of Congress, effectively creating his own law by literally waiving the mandate and the penalties for failing to comply with it.

Simply put, he legislated without the legislative branch – and the Constitution doesn't give presidents the power to do that.

No president should have such authority – that's not the way our system of government was designed to work, and that's not how the American people expect their government to run. This aggressive unilateralism practiced by President Obama presents a direct challenge to the constitutional balance of powers, and the House is compelled to respond.

This is not a stunt or joke. This is about standing up for the legislative branch and the Constitution, and that's exactly what the House is going to do. ■